Girl with a Broken Smile
by canis-phantom
Summary: James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, Leo, Frank, and Allie are all seventh years, are all fed up with school, and are all dating each other. The beginning of rivalry, romance, and betrayl all spawn in a Marauder's tale.
1. The First Thread, Pulled

_The girl with the broken smile._

Leo probed her hand across her face assessing the damage. She had cuts up and down her face crisscrossing athwart her cheeks, and she could feel places where she knew she was bruised up. Her lip was split open both on the top and bottom, and her nose was slightly broken. Leo furthered her assessment by slipping her hands down her opposite arms. There were more cuts and lashes on them and she could tell that the blood she was smearing on her upper arms was also coming from her palms.

Leo's sweater was tattered and old, with fraying sleeves. Furthermore it was wet and cold from the rain and lack of heat. There was a quite rapping at the window and she forced herself to stand up and walk over to it. A small owl with brown and black splotches sat perched royally on the window sill glancing up with big, round eyes full of a mystical understanding.

"Did you run away? You silly bird, I don't need any more trouble..." But Leo couldn't bring herself to force the little doe eyed bird out of the room. A thought nagged at the back of her mind, something that was trying to remind her of where she was. Leo clawed off a piece of wood from the window sill. With her blood she wrote down a quick note upon the wood, and slowly fell out of consciousness...

--

James sauntered into the garden of his small palace estate. Really, it was his parents but the two of them had up and left him and his best friend alone this summer and decided to spend a second honey moon in Egypt. Sirius was flying loops on his new broom out at the mini-Quidditch pitch. The two of them had been living together for a year now after Sirius had run away from home once and for all, and now their relationship was beginning to resemble more so that of two brothers then two friends.

"OI! Sirius! Did you have breakfast?" James hollered up at Sirius using his hands to amplify the sound. Sirius swooped down and stopped a few inches short of a crash landing.

"What was that mate? I thought I heard something about food." A big childlike smile crawled across his face at James' frustration. "Oh come on now...it's not like you weren't expecting a similar response!"

"How good of you to live up to my expectations! If you come inside...I'll make you pancakes..." On that note James turned around and nearly fell over as a tiny owl nearly flew into him.

After a small fray outside which included Sirius having to dive around James' garden in attempt of catching the tiny bird, the two boys dragged it into their room and shoved it into the empty owl cage of James' presently absent pet. After some further quarreling and some hostile bird-to-human interactions James managed to wrestle away from the bird a tiny bark of wood. What happened next was rather unusual for the Potter household. James Potter fainted.

As James was coming to, Sirius pried the wood from James' hand, and it took him all his strength, both mental and physical to not collapse in utter repulsion. The wood was covered with caked on blood. Upon further examination he found that the blood was not at all random, but rather formed words.

"_13 Daedal Ln. Leo..."_

By the time James was well enough to sit up Sirius was already running around looking for his broom.

"Waz' wrong?" James inquired as he stood form the bed and recoiled as his broom was shoved at him.

"It's Leo...she needs help..." Before James knew what was happening to him he was outside on his broom and flying towards London.

--

Leo awoke on the night bus. Her wounds were hurting more then before and she couldn't see very well. As the shapes before her came into focus she realized that she was looking at the faces of two of her closest friends. James Potter and Sirius Black were both staring back at her with wide, scared eyes.

"Oh...good...Night didn't take my note to Lily...she'd be worried sick." Leo choked out when she felt that she had the strength to use her vocal cords.

"And us? I suppose we were to ignore a note written in blood?!" Sirius growled with a dog like brutality.

"Come on mate, this isn't the time." James remarked as he turned his attention back to Leo. "Can you tell us what happened? We've been worried sick...Sirius here collapsed into a dead faint over the note."

"You know James, you're not very good at lying." Leo tried to grin, but her split lip hurt her too much.

"That's right; _he's_ the one who fainted. Potter here couldn't take the sight of blood." Sirius added, more to support his own cause then anything else.

"That's beside the point. Honestly, you two could be on your death beds and be more worried about your egos then your health!" Interjected James in attempt to spare further embarrassment, he failed.

"You're one to call the kettle, black, James...you'd rather break your arm then suffer any embarrassment on your part." Leo observed.

"Oh hush...you should sleep anyway." James shot back and turned away. Leo didn't argue but rather turned onto her side facing towards him and closed her eyes.


	2. Tomorrow Will Be Better

Tomorrow Will Be Better

It took Leo a while to realize where she was when she first awoke. She was in a yellow room with painted ducklings that swam around on the walls. All in all she was rather irritated by the constant movement and it made her headache worse.

She was trying to sit up when two house elves appeared seemingly out of nowhere and helped her sit by propping her up with freshly washed pillows. The smell of the pillows was so contrasting to the rest of the room that Leo grabbed the pillow she'd been laying on and heaved a big sniff. It smelled intoxicatingly like James Potter.

As though on cue the door flung open and Sirius slumped groggily into the room.

"Damn it Blake, learn to wake up later in the morning from your comas, stupid house elves had to kick me awake."

"I'd say it's not their fault; you grabbed them by the ears when they merely tried to shake you, that's not even to say that it's been early afternoon for the past two hours." James commented as he walked into the room dressed in a pink apron with frills and boasting a smart looking bowl full of batter. "Pancakes anyone?"

By the time Leo got to a mirror that morning she was feeling much better. James' old slacks fit her a tad too loosely and she was quite pleased to find that the two boys had searched through their things and laid out tops they'd grown out of for her to search through. The swelling from her bruises had gone down and most of the gashes had healed by now so Leona's appearance most of all resembled the result of an unfair fight with a few bullies.

The threesome had a conference over breakfast as Leo's future living arrangements. Most of the discussion included James and Sirius attempting to convince Leo that she was in no way imposing, nor would it fit to have her live in a hotel because they weren't the kinds of friends to let her down. It was all very gallant and chivalrous and it made Leo quite sick.

The better part of the day was spent out in the yard running plays for Quidditch. Leo and Sirius posed as beaters from James' opposing team, and James flew brilliantly to avoid them. Dinner was an assortment of odds and ends from the leftovers of the night before.

"James Potter you cooked all this single handedly?!" Leona exclaimed upon trying her first bit of his grilled vegetables in curry sauce.

"Well, I used both my hands, but if you're asking about any certain particular members of this ménage-a-trois, then yes, Sirius just eats the food he never helps cook it." James boasted as he plopped a plate of food before his aforementioned friend.

"I object I-"

"Objection overruled, now eat your dinner." Remarked Leo and chomped down on a forkful of homemade lasagna.

The evening was lukewarm, there was silence outside the Potter mansion that night and nothing seemed fit to move except the rustle of a breeze that danced across the lawn and caused the grass to bow down in reverence of it.

Leona sat in a sculpted ball out on the patio bench and gazed out towards the sky analyzing the stars. The movement of the backyard door didn't seem to be enough reason for her to tear herself away from the deepening abyss. James' sent did, however, startle her for she was more then likely expecting for Sirius to slump out and warn her to 'come inside or James'll have a fit.'

"I brought you a blanket so you don't freeze."

"Thank you, but I'm sure I'll live, it's only a slight breeze you know..." Leona commented pointedly.

"I know, but I'd never live it down from my mum if you caught a terrible cold right after you managed to get out of bed just today. She'd be likely to talk my head off for it."

"How good of you to care for me so, James."

"You know it's true, Leo, here..." James took the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders as if in a final attempt to save his own skin. He himself strolled over to a pillar, and, with his back resting against it turned to stare back at Leo. "What're you doing out here either way, Blake?"

"I was just thinking, stargazing one would say." Leo curled up with the blanket and allowed it's warmth to absorb her. She noted that it was rather large for her alone.

"Did you find out what you wanted? In the stars...I mean..."

"I suppose not. There's not much they can say to me. You know, in all the time I've been up and around today neither one of you has asked me what happened."

"Sirius and I have a pact. You'll tell us when you're ready to, and if you haven't yet then you're obviously dealing with something big. You usually talk to walls if you think they'll listen."

"They usually do." Leo watched as James shivered a spot as the breeze picked up in the not so heavy night air. "Come here, for all your superficial worries Potter, you're not very good at caring for yourself. Come on now, under the blanket you go."

There was an awkward moment as the two tried to find a position they'd both be comfortable in. Finally a compromise was found when Leo put her head on James' shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her for added warmth.

"What star were you looking at?" James asked feeling himself become a tad rigid with Leona's body warming him.

"None in particular, although I did take special note of Sirius. That's when you came out..." Leo blushed as she felt James' body grow rigid. "What in the world are you so stiff about? Can it be that Potter here is scared of an ickel girl like me?"

"Nonsense! I fear nothing."

Once more the following could never truly be explained. Perhaps a fly blew by in Leo's peripheral vision, or perhaps divine intervention took place at that exact moment. But their eyes met and locked onto each other, and nothing more needed to be said. Leona's palm fell open and her eyes widened a tad for not realizing that she'd made a fist. James' hand found hers, and they sat there for a while, just looking at each other and holding hands.

It was Leo who made the first move. She stood after a few minutes and squeezed his hand as if in reassurance.

"Sweet dreams...I'll see you in the morning." Leaving the blanket and much more to be desired Leo slid open the backdoor and paced her way up to her room. The ducklings weren't half so irritating any longer and when Leo crawled under her covers that night she turned to them as though to her dearest friends.

"Isn't it wonderful my darlings? The stars were right after all. I wonder what tomorrow will bring...perhaps I shall make breakfast for him? Yes, I think I will. Wake me my darlings...will you? Sweet dreams my precious friends...sweetest dreams to each of you...for tomorrow will be better."


	3. We'll Hold Hands and Fly Away

We'll Hold Hands and Fly Away.

September the first proved to be a gloomy occasion. Not a drop fell from the sky but heaviness overwhelmed it and a strange darkness pushed through. Naturally, none of this reflected the on the Potter residence.

James was running about after the house elves telling them not to clean his room while he was away. The elves accepted his request as punishment for polishing his Quidditch balls without his permission the week before. Sirius was doing his summer homework in a mad flurry, periodically calling such things as, "Balderdash!" and, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Leo was helping Mrs. Potter pack away the trunks which the three of them had neglected to do before. James' trunk kept making popping noises when they shut it and upon opening it up to see what the noise was they found all the neat stacks they'd made to be a complete mess. Sirius' trunk kept running away and it took all of an hour to catch it and pin it down.

Trying to get out of the house was rather insane. Mrs. Potter kept hugging each friend in turn and then once she'd finished she started crying and hugging them all over again. Finally Mr. Potter pried her away from the door and escorted the troop to the ministry car.

"I'm terribly sorry we can't take you to the train this time, kids. I have work to finish up and your mum would make a scene." Mr. Potter added gruffly as he shook hands with the two boys. "You take care of them now; I don't want to hear about anymore pranks in Vetra's class, no matter how wretched she is. If you want to graduate you'd better hope she doesn't fail you on the N.E.W.T.S." He winked and kissed Leo's hand, and then he helped her into the car. "Take care now!"

Mr. Potter came inside the house and collapsed onto a chair at the kitchen table. Mrs. Potter brought him his coffee and set it down with refinement and poise. It was easy, however, to tell that she was heartbroken.

"Those poor dears, John. They're so young, how can they take all this heartbreak and stay so cheerful?"

"It's because they're young that they can remain in good spirits. I worry what will happen when they're older."

---

The ministry car pulled into Kings Cross with five minutes to spare. James and Sirius busied themselves with extracting their trunks from the car as Leo held tight to their pets. The platform 9 ¾ was active with parents and children of all ages. Ickle first years bumbled about in search of friendly faces. Their young innocent gazes sizing up their peers, making judgments and enemies. Other classes milled about, mostly avoiding the redundant routine of their fast approaching journey.

Leo didn't see any of her friends out on the platform. She held fast to James as he pushed their carts along, raging when ickle newbies got in his way. Sirius trudged along a tad in front avoiding looking at anyone. He was almost to the train when the inevitable happened. The Black family pointedly meandered into his path and stood as stubbornly as asses, turning a blind eye on their eldest son. James jumped to Sirius' side before his friend could make as much as a noise.

"It's not worth it, mate, let it go." But Sirius stood waiting just as stubbornly as though expecting that they'd turn and notice him. It was Leona who finally got Sirius' attention. She took his hand, calmly, as though he'd been waiting for her to do so all along. Her perpetual tugging and pulling at his arm convinced him to start moving. He walked in a haze around his parents and little brother, and allowed himself to be led up the steps to the train and to an empty compartment. There he sat down in a silent gloom and slumped over in surrender.

"Stay here, I'm going back to help James with the trunks, just don't go anywhere, I won't be able to find this compartment without you, got it?" Leo rattled nervously, and Sirius nodded dully in response. When Leo and James returned Sirius was sitting just as Leo had left him, he didn't appear to have blinked in the time. James tried talking to him, but nothing would shake him from the monotony.

"I'm going to go look for the others. I'll be back later." James finally announced as the train started moving. "You stay with him, I don't know what's wrong... he didn't have this reaction last year..."

"I'll see what I can do; you go ahead, oh...if you see Lily, try not to hit on her." Leo playfully added and hugged James. Once he'd gone, Leo turned back to Sirius. "Come on Black...talk to me." She sat down by his side and took his hand again. "What happened...why'd you react like that?"

"You have no idea..."

"Yes I do, I ran away too, Sirius, I know perfectly well what it's like!"

"No you don't!" Sirius stood up as he spoke and started to wander around the cabin. "You have no idea what it's like to have them ignore you. You have no idea what it's like when someone you love sees right through you as though you don't exi-"

"Yes I do." Leona interrupted, "I may not know what it's like when your parents see right through you, but I know quite well what it's like to have someone you love dearly see right past you and not know how it hurts."

There was an unimaginable hurt it Leo's eyes. It was obvious that Sirius had hit a raw nerve with his last comment.

"Leo...I'm sorry...I know you understand...I do...I sometimes just think you might be the only one." Sirius' head drooped down in a defeated slump as he spoke. Leo gazed up at him from where she was sitting; he seemed so young at that moment, but the youth didn't reach his eyes. There was sadness in the deep black orbs, as though they emulated everything that he'd gone through in his life... "They burned me off the tree, Leo...Tonks told me in a letter...they just burned me off...sixteen years and all I mean to them is a petty name on a wall. I just thought...maybe with my graduating and all...maybe they'd..." Leo couldn't help herself, she stood and reached her arms around him in a long emotional hug.

They would have stayed that way for a long time, but the door started to slide open. Leo pulled away before anyone could see and quickly turned to the window to hide her blush. James came up from behind and wrapped her in a hug all his own.

"You're a miracle worker, I don't know how you do it...but after talking to you, he's like a different person." James inhaled the sweet scent of Leo's hair. "Thank you."

"LEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOO!" There was another strong grasp on Leo's neck, when she managed to grapple free Leo found her best friend, Lily Evans glaring at her. "Leona Blake, I can't believe you're dating this...this...this ROUGE!"

"I beg your pardon Miss Evans, but I was completely respectful to you all morning. I'm standing right here and there's nothing wrong with my hearing whatsoever!"

"Oh? You! How could you seduce Leo like that! You know how innocent she is!" Lily added as she clutched to Leo protectively. Her last comment caused Sirius and James to both exchange looks and start laughing aloud.

"Innocent?! LEO?!" The boys cried in unison.

"Hey! I resent that!" Leo interjected.

"You have to admit we have a point." James shot back foolishly. Leo skillfully arched one of her eyebrows and crossed her arms on her chest.

"James Potter, you're a downright fool. He does have a point though, Lils I'm not the essence of innocence. No reason to rub my nose in it, though." Leo reached and squeezed James' hand again. Just then the train shook slightly and Leo fell over onto Sirius who was once more sitting on the bench. He wrapped his hands around her on instinct, in a desperate attempt not to drop her. There was a moment of silence after the train stopped shaking as the dust cleared. Leo felt flustered by the two boys and their constant companionship over the past month. James reached over to Leo and helped her up off Sirius.

"Are you alright?" James asked as he traced Leo with his eyes searching for any problems.

"No, I'm fine...Black are you ok? I didn't break you did I?"

"You? Break me? You'd have to try harder then that!" Sirius added and patted his stomach.

Leona paused and looked at the two boys and then at Lily. There was an awkward moment coming, if it hadn't already come and she needed to prevent it.

"I think I want to go for a walk, Lily you're coming." Leo added as an after thought, grabbed her best friend, and charged off out of the compartment. Lily ran along beside her, but Leo seemed to slow the pace once they were out of earshot of the compartment. "Those two are going to drive me insane this year, going to school with them is one thing, but living there...different story." Leo paused realizing she hadn't told Lily about the summer yet.

"LIVE WITH THEM!? Oh I'm going to kill Potter!"

"Down Cat Woman, it's not what it sounds like. I kinda...needed a place to stay and since you were in Ireland, I owled James instead."

"Why do I feel like there's something you're forgetting to mention...?" Lily peered at Leo with a slight sideways glance. But Leo just shrugged and turned to look out of a window in an empty compartment. The empty space inspired Lily, who pushed Leona inside, locked the door, and closed the curtains. "Spill. Now."

"It's a long story, and you'll be worried for no reason."

"I never worry for 'no' reason."

"You've been studying for the N.E.W.T.S. since first year." Leo interjected skeptically.

"I'm studious, not worried, now spill." Lily stated as she sat Leo down on a bench, "There's no getting out of this compartment until you do."

"I started when I got back from school at the beginning of the summer." Leo started with a deep sigh, "My parents don't usually talk to me about things, and they haven't really cared about what I do ever since I was sorted into Gryffindor. Some could argue I started before that, when the Blake's and the Black's had been one family, actually. You see, I knew Sirius before we had started attending Hogwarts. But you know that already. My point is that our families go way back, back to the founders of Hogwarts, almost. Our old fogey ancestor had been one of Salazar Slytherin's first pupils. About a century ago, the family took separate branches. The Blacks support Voldermort, as he's the heir of Slytherin, and the Blake's just prefer staying to their own kind, in other words purebloods. For the most part there have never been any problems between the two clans, and we're quite friendly. But then Sirius and I met James. See, as far as I care to follow, the two clans have banded together against muggle supporters. , the Blake's just want to have nothing to do with muggles and muggle borns, and the Black's want to be rid of them altogether. Anyway when I was sorted into Gryffindor I was sent specific instructions not to mingle with the Potter boy. That just made curious, and as I'd met him on the train here I didn't have much reason to 'not mingle.' My parents and I have had quite a time quarreling about the topic ever since.

When I got back from Hogwarts my mother picked me up and my father was nowhere to be seen. When he got home he looked furious, and he was drunk. He hit me a few times, and I never found out why, but I never bothered to. I stayed out of my parents way altogether for the first few weeks of the summer. The only time all three of us ever met was at dinner. About a month ago, at dinner, my father informed me that I was no longer allowed to use my owl to send letters, and that if I wanted to correspond with my friends I'd have to use the family owl. He told me that it was instructed not to carry messages to any of my muggle friends. That included James, naturally. To make sure I didn't use Eros anymore, he sent the bird as a donation to the owl post.

I was furious, and the next day when they were gone from the house I sent the family owl to Tonks, with a message asking if I could borrow her owl, of if not, if she could send along a message to you and James telling them what's happened." Leo took a small break here and a few tears swelled in her eyes.

"Hon, what happened?"

"My dad came home that night and called me into the front hall. When I came out he started to hit me, he wouldn't stop. He punched, and hit, and clobbered. He ripped at my clothes and scratched me, and jabbed me with his wand. He pulled me by my hair into his office and pulled out the note that I'd sent Tonks. He took out a bottle of wine and drank it to the last drop, then he started to beat me again. It went until I couldn't see anymore it hurt so much...when he collapsed my mom came in and brought me a coat. She told me that if I was such and ungrateful bitch that I should get out and never come back. When I tried to ask her why, she just slapped me across the face.

I didn't wait around, I ran out of the house just in what I was wearing, and all I remember after that is waking up on the night bus with James and Sirius by my side. I meant to send you a letter, or go find a job and live somewhere else. But James wouldn't have it, and Sirius said he'd lose what was left of his self respect if he let me leave. Apparently Eros found me in an abandoned shack and flew off to find help, I guess since you weren't home yet, he went to James. But I'm fine now, the Potters are letting me stay with them, they bought me new clothes, and call me honey. And it's only until I find a job after I graduate. Anyway...that's why I'm staying with them...nothing serious or anything." Leo shrugged. She'd spent a lot of time talking to the guys about her future, which in her opinion was much more pleasant then discussing her past. The boys had convinced her that everything would be alright, and she hadn't even considered what she'd gone through in the past month and a half until just now. Lily had a sad, awestruck expression of her face.

"Oh, darling...I'm so sorry..."

"It's not your fault you know. It's not like you told my parents to act the way they did. I do have a good idea who did though..." And unspoken understanding hung in the air. Lily accepted that Leo's choices in her situation had been remarkably clearheaded for someone so young. It was time that her friend moved on, and what could help more then everyone being there for her.

"So tell me about you and James then." Lily asked rather coyly, as she'd been dying to know ever since James had admitted to her, that the plain simple truth was that he was no longer allowed to hit on her, seeing as how the stag was no longer true to his name.

"I don't know, really. I was still rather woozy from the whole experience of running away, and James was there for me in his odd sort of way. I guess it's still a rather unspoken bond that developed. I have to admit though, living in the same house as him has been driving me insane. There's no wonder why he's so unattached! On the days I want to spend time with him he's off on an absurd adventure with Sirius, and I'm mad at him the whole day for abandoning me and at the end of the day he comes back with flowers. He does these things and it makes it impossible for me to hate him.

And then the days I just need to spend time with myself, maybe cook something...you know those days. He just won't leave me alone! I'm thinking of school as a salvation for my mental health. Seriously, the boy's completely insane sometimes!"

"Now you believe me." Lily added with a smug self assurance.

"I'm not saying he's and idiot like you do. I'm just saying I enjoy the awkward rouge in him."

"Leona Blake! You're completely shameless!"

And so the chatter went on for hours as the scarlet train rolled on it's way, taking the Marauders, their friends, their enemies, and the ickle newbies they were bound to corrupt, to the place the called home, to the place they loved. Their seventh year was about to begin.


End file.
